Oconee probe clears deputy

Posted: Thursday, September 22, 2011

By ERIN FRANCE

Investigators believe an Oconee County deputy properly used force when confronting an armed suspect with a hostage in February.

The Oconee County Sheriff's Office released an internal investigation Wednesday that shows Sgt. Shane Partain followed procedure in an incident involving the wounding of Andrew Mayerbach outside his camper on Jones Road after Mayerbach took a mother and daughter hostage. Mayerbach shot himself in the head after Partain's bullet hit him in the arm and chest.

Western Judicial Circuit District Attorney Ken Mauldin reviewed the case and told the sheriff's office that there's no indication of wrongdoing on Partain's part, said Oconee County Chief Deputy Lee Weems.

"(Mauldin) has informed us that he has reviewed the case file and determined that no other action needs to be taken," Weems said.

The shooting led to an internal investigation -- ensuring procedure was followed -- as well as an external investigation by the Barrow County Sheriff's Office.

The district attorney reviewed both investigations.

All deputy-involved shootings deserve to be reviewed, but it's good to have official closure on the case, said Oconee County Sheriff Scott Berry.

"Obviously, deadly force is a last resort and we take no pleasure in using deadly force, but sometimes it's required to save lives," Berry said.

Mayerbach, 42, took the two women hostage Feb. 17 at his camper on Jones Road. He threatened the women, hit the 18-year-old daughter on the head with his pistol and shot the 40-year-old mother in the foot.

The daughter escaped by breaking through the camper and running to a neighbor's house where she called 911.

When the deputies arrived, they approached Mayerbach's camper. Partain used a public-address system on his vehicle to ask Mayerbach to exit the camper.

Partain confronted Mayerbach -- instead of waiting to assemble a response team -- and likely saved lives, Weems wrote in the internal investigation.

"Fortunately, pressing the contact prevented Mayerbach from falling back to a defensive position. ... Had he done so, I find it highly unlikely that we could have made an approach without losing personnel," he said.

Barrow County likely will release results of its investigation of the shooting later this week, said Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith.

Barrow County investigators collected information about whether Partain needed to use deadly force through witness statements and investigating the scene.

"Had they not chose to use deadly force this could have escalated into something where a lot more people could have been injured," Smith said.

Investigators found evidence that Mayerbach planned to hurt the people he lived near, as well as deputies and other people in the area, Smith said.

The Jackson County Sheriff's Office will undergo similar investigations in connection with a deputy's fatal Sunday shooting of Kenneth Dwayne Martin. Martin, 50, was shot after he doused his wife with gasoline and threw a burning gas can at deputies.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation will conduct the external investigation, said Jackson County Maj. David Cochran.

Jackson County will conduct its own internal investigation to make sure its procedures were followed, Cochran said.